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Laura asked:

What are the main differences between Huxley's and Darwin's theories of evolution?

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Interesting that I came across this, because there is a wonderful discussion group that you might be
interested in, the Evolutionary Psychology group, and below is a recent posting (I'll leave the sender
and recipient off):

Many of the proponents of Evolutionary Psychology are not really Darwinians, because they are
closer to Thomas Huxley's position than to Charles Darwin's. I have argued this in various places
(such as in my book Darwinian Natural Right), and I have been reminded of this in noticing that Frans
de Waal (in his new book, The Ape and the Sushi Master) argues the same point.

Darwin believed that morality could be explained as an expression of a natural moral sense rooted in
human biological nature. We know from his early notebooks that Darwin thought that a biological
account of morality would have to be a crucial part of his theory. But it was not until 1871 that he
finally published his evolutionary theory of morality in The Descent of Man.

I'm not sure what it means to "really be a Darwinian," but I do agree with him that many people in the
evolutionary psychology camp (and many evolutionary biologists of all stripes) deny that morality can
be explained as an expression of a natural moral sense rooted in human biological nature. This is a
shame, because (a) they are most likely wrong, and (b) since people act morally very often, one
cannot possibly believe that evolutionary thinking can contribute significantly to explaining human
behavior, unless you also believe that morality has a basis in our biology?

I suspect that the Huxley-type evolutionary psychologists focus so much on immoral behavior
because they don't believe they can explain moral behavior (vis: evolutionary psychologists are great
at explaining rape, murder, neglect by step-parents, and selfish behavior but they can't deal with
altruism, love, empathy, sympathy, guilt, shame, revenge-seeking, and the like).

The fact is, we are getting a lot better at explaining pro-social behaviors, and with them, biologically
based pro-social morality.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology

I highly recommend this group if you're interested in this area.

Steven Ravett Brown